Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ named Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone
The outlet said the 1967 hit “catalyzed rock & roll, gospel, and blues to create the model for soul music that artists still look to today.” (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for RS)
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(WTRF) — Rolling Stone has released its latest list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and the Queen of Soul is at the top.
Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” topped the list as the No. 1 song, according to the entertainment magazine and website.
The outlet said the 1967 hit “catalyzed rock & roll, gospel, and blues to create the model for soul music that artists still look to today.”
“Just as important, the song’s unapologetic demands resonated powerfully with the civil rights movement and emergent feminist revolution, fitting for an artist who donated to the Black Panther Party and sang at the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr.,” Rolling Stone added. “In her 1999 memoir, Franklin wrote that the song reflected ‘the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher — everyone wanted respect.’ We still do.”
Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” which took the top spot last year, came in at No. 6 this year.
Here’s the list’s top 10:
- 1: Aretha Franklin — “Respect”
- 2: Public Enemy — “Fight The Power”
- 3: Sam Cooke — “A Change is Gonna Come”
- 4: Bob Dylan — “Like A Rolling Stone”
- 5: Nirvana — “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
- 6: Marvin Gaye — “What’s Going On”
- 7: The Beatles — “Strawberry Fields Forever”
- 8: Missy Elliott — “Get Ur Freak On”
- 9: Fleetwood Mac — “Dreams”
- 10: Outkast — “Hey Ya’
Rolling Stone first published its Greatest Songs list in 2004, and it says it’s “one of the most widely read stories in our history.”
To see the full list of the top 500 songs, click here.
